Lab-grown woolly mammoths could walk the Earth in six years

Re:Lab-grown woolly mammoths could walk the Earth in six years by seanhunter on Saturday July 23, 2022 @01:57PM (#32205757)

I bumped into Ben Lamm by coincidence at a business dinner (he was having dinner at the next table at a really small place and instead him and his party just joined us as a big group) and he was talking about Collossal. The weird thing is he wants bring back multiple extinct species and to recoup the investment by essentially running zoo exhibits. So you would pay to go see the wooly mammoth or whatever. I love that this exists and would love them to succeed but the plan seems pretty out there.

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Re:Lab-grown woolly mammoths could walk the Earth in six years by remarkEon on Saturday July 23, 2022 @02:09PM (#32205904)

I mean, it's not really that out there. Michael Crichton wrote a book about the idea in 1990.

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Re:Lab-grown woolly mammoths could walk the Earth in six years by blamestross on Saturday July 23, 2022 @02:52PM (#32206361)

The only big difference is that dinosaurs and (less so) mammoths would have a horrible time adapting to modern atmosphere and climate

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Re:Lab-grown woolly mammoths could walk the Earth in six years by candiodari on Sunday July 24, 2022 @08:16AM (#32212699)

I think you're right. When push comes to shove size has consequences. Specifically, the bigger the animal, the bigger the torque on every movement. This means bigger animals move slower (more accurately: "can't change speed"). In the case of Woolly Mammoths and dinosaurs ... a lot slower. Their turning radius, certainly at speed, will be something like that of a truck.

This means that whilst outrunning a T-Rex might be difficult, it should work like a bull: you have zero chance when running away from a bull that's trying to attack you. So don't. However, if you just avoid the bull by going sideways (walking speed is more than enough, there is no real need or the showy stuff toreadors perform at bull fights) and let it attack you until it tires (and collapses), at which point you calmly walk over and kill it with a pointy stick ... yes it takes some practice but it's definitely going to be how such fights would go in practice.

Worse: it's not like humans are the only animals that are capable of figuring this out.

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Re:Lab-grown woolly mammoths could walk the Earth in six years by bryankaplan on Saturday July 23, 2022 @04:16PM (#32207184)

Life finds a way.

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Re:Lab-grown woolly mammoths could walk the Earth in six years by pawsforthought on Saturday July 23, 2022 @07:11PM (#32208503)

Considering we’re already into the sixth mass extinction, apparently not.

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Re:Lab-grown woolly mammoths could walk the Earth in six years by blamestross on Saturday July 23, 2022 @05:05PM (#32207563)

Looks at diversity of fossil record pointedly

looks at extant life pointedly

Sure, some life finds a way, but 99.99% of it doesn't.

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Re:Lab-grown woolly mammoths could walk the Earth in six years by noSyncCloud on Saturday July 23, 2022 @05:09PM (#32207592)

> Life finds a way.

This is — famously — almost completely untrue.

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Re:Lab-grown woolly mammoths could walk the Earth in six years by HillRat on Saturday July 23, 2022 @04:22PM (#32207238)

I’m a bit skeptical about the chances of this overall, but Ben’s a showman, so it’s a good fit for his enthusiasm. Wishing him luck.

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